Fall for fun- fun for Fall!

This fall has been following the general theme of this year, a whole heck of a lot of fun! It started on a more negative note…. 1 month straight of rain and 40 degrees. 3 weeks into it, I picked up a little virus that my household managed to catch, and I spent two weeks battling the buggy, trying to find my groove again. Unfortunately, every time I went out to train, it equaled to a cold, wet, draining experience. I took four straight days of lying in bed, and relaxing and recharging which eventually brought me back to life. After a huge summer of training, I have a feeling that virus may have just saved me; because that two weeks of rest has left me feeling rejuvenated and ready to go.

Aside from having a little crummy weather- Alaska has made up for it with two weeks of cool, clear, amazing, fun, fall days! Some of the fun adventures have included:

Clear, beautiful view from up high in the hills.

Olivia time- one of the young talented juniors from my home town, the Methow Valley, finally caved to my peer pressure of coming to check out APU. It is no longer a secret how much fun the APU team is with a great group of athletes, the best coach in the world, perfect training, glacier skiing, opportunities to go to school and ski at the highest level, Kikkan Randall… oh man, it is all so good. So Olivia finally caved to the pressure and came up for a few days. It was fun to be a tour guide for a week trying to show her just how much fun we have.

APU women's team taking in Olivia

Training in the Rain- Sometimes you just have to embrace the crumminess of the weather. There is something that somehow makes you feel all the much more hardcore when you come home soaked to the core, covered in mud, and totally stoked!

Rosie Frankowski working hard indoors

New strength routines on the rings.

Mountain Adventuring- With some functioning feet this year, I have gotten to adventure to so many places right here in Anchorage. The foothills just here in town are incredible! There are even blueberries left to snack on at the top :)

Made it to one HUGE white rock!

Jo found himself a rainbow!

Exploring a new sport..!

Running with the moms- There are a lot of many wonderful mom's I have gotten to know since moving to Anchorage. I always have such a busy schedule, I never get to spend time with these amazing people. Many of my afternoon training sessions are on my own, so I have gotten to spend some time with these incredible ladies in the afternoons. The secret that I learned… these moms, they have mad mom power! They make me work to keep up, holy cow!! Makes sense now, why MY mom can still kick my butt- it is a secret mom power!

Hunting- Growing up vegetarian means that I didn't really have the appreciation for hunting that many others have. Guns scare me, meet grosses me out when it's not cooked… but the idea of hiking around searching for animals is more interesting. My boyfriend Jo is the king of hunting, so I finally joined him this year for "the experience". A few birds later, a campfire, and awesome sunset… and it made a heck of a dinner! I may just be hooked.

Jo, with his handmade moose caller!

Camping with some amazing sky's!

Dinner!

Fast and Female- This year I joined the organizing crew for the Anchorage Fast and Female. With my Senior Project for my degree relating to Feasibility Studies for this awesome organization; it has been especially neat to get more involved now that I understand the background a bit more. I was in charge of organizing the stations and ambassadors, which was super fun to get to know some of the ambassadors of the various sports here in Anchorage. We managed to get 10 different sports involved this year. Swimming, Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined, Biathlon, Alpine, Nordic, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Tennis, Golf.. Cool! With 250 girls, we had one heck of a great time!

Cooking Dinner - One of our common Fundraising methods is to sell "Dinner cooked by the APU Women". With so many girls on different schedules, we fell behind last year, so we had a series of 4 dinners to catch up on this fall. By the end, we had our meal and timing dialed. I always love these events because we get to know some really wonderful and supportive people! We have some truly generous people in the Anchorage Community believing in our APU Team and helping us move forward! This last event we did before leaving was at the new Special Olympics Gym that was built in town. It is the only Special Olympics Facility in the world! It is amazing, and we are hoping to get together with some of the Special Olympic Athletes and spend some time training with them in their incredible new facility!

Cooking crew and Women's APU Team

Special Olympics Fundraiser

Best Chef on Skinny Skis- One of our annual team fundraisers is the "Best Cheff on Skinny Skis"- a reality TV show that we are formed. See the video here for a little peak into what it is about. Lots of fun!

Fun Sponsor Activity- The fall is always a great time to get involved with our incredible sponsors. Photo shoots and organization events. It is always rewarding to spread our love for active and healthy lifestyles with the company; trying to give back to the incredible support we receive! I have just recently started working with Saltchuk which is a holding company for many transportation companies of Alaska. Aside from working with the amazing Carlile company that has been supporting me for the past three years, I have also gotten to get to know and work with some of the other companies of Saltchuk such as Northern Air Cargo, Tote, Foss and Cook Inlet Tug and Barge.

Getting Active with Carlile Employees

Showing the Carlile Families a great view from nearby.

Photo Shoot with Tyler Kornfield and Northern Air Cargo

That about wraps up this amazingly fun fall. I am headed to Park City right now for the final National Team Training Camp before I hopefully return to three weeks of snow in AK, and then off to EUROPE for RACING TIME!!!!